The Effect Of Sensation Seeking On Adolescent Risk-taking Behavior:A Moderated Mediating Effect

Adolescence is a stage with a high incidence of risk-taking behaviors,and the occurrence of negative risk-taking behaviors has a negative impact on adolescents’ physical and mental health.Studying the factors that affect the occurrence of risk-taking behaviors among adolescents can help to reveal the psychological mechanisms and causes of risk-taking behaviors.The current study selects three important factors that affect adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors from the aspects of personality traits,cognition,and situation,to examine the influence of the three factors on adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors.The pre-study translated the Adolescent Domain-Specific Risk Behavior Questionnaire and tested its applicability among Chinese adolescents.The results of the reliability and validity test of the Chinese version of the questionnaire show that the questionnaire has high reliability and validity,and is suitable for use by Chinese adolescents.The study took 430 people as the research object,using the "Arnett Sensation Seeking Questionnaire" to evaluate sensory seeking,and using the three sub-questions of the "Adolescent-specific Risk Behavior Questionnaire" to evaluate adolescents’ risk-taking behavior and perceived sensitivity(perceived risk,perceived benefit),using The Situational Risk Appetite Questionnaire assesses the level of Situational Risk Appetite.First,the effects of sensory seeking and sensory sensitivity(perceived risk,perceived benefit)on adolescent risk-taking behavior were examined.Feeling seeking is an independent variable,adolescent risk-taking behavior is a dependent variable,and perceived risk and perceived benefit as mediator variables.The results showed that sensory seeking had a significant positive direct effect on adolescent risk-taking behavior,and the higher the level of sensory-seeking,the more risk-taking behavior.Perceived risk has a significant negative impact on adolescent risk-taking behavior,and the more perceived risk,the less risk-taking behavior.Perceived benefits have a significant positive impact on adolescent risk-taking behavior,and the more perceived benefits,the more risk-taking behaviors.There are significant parallel mediating effects of perceived benefits and perceived risks.According to the size of the mediating effect of perceived risk and perceived benefit,the impact of perceived benefit on adolescent risk-taking behavior is greater than the impact of perceived risk on adolescent risk-taking behavior.Second,we further analyzed how personal and situational factors work together to influence adolescent risk-taking behavior.Taking sensation seeking as the independent variable,risk-taking behavior as the dependent variable,and perceived benefit and context as the mediator and moderator variables,respectively.The results show that there is a significant mediating effect of perceived benefit in the effect of sensory seeking on adolescent risk-taking behavior,and the effect of perceived benefit on adolescent risk-taking behavior through perceived benefit is regulated by the moderator variable "benefits contextual risk preference".When the preference level is higher,the risk-taking behavior of adolescents is also higher,and the moderated mediation model is established.The current research has drawn the following conclusions: First,both perceived benefit and perceived risk have an impact on risk-taking behavior,and the impact of perceived benefit on adolescent risk-taking behavior is greater than the impact of perceived risk on adolescent risk-taking behavior.Second,feel-seeking affects adolescents’ risk-taking behavior through perceived benefits,and the benefit-context risk preference moderates the effect of sensory-seeking on adolescents’ risk-taking behavior through perceived benefits.The results of the current study confirm that perceived benefit has an important influence on adolescent risk-taking behavior.This provides some theoretical guidance for the intervention of adolescent risk-taking behavior in the future.In the future,it can help adolescents to correctly and objectively evaluate the benefits or rewards brought by behaviors or events,and avoid excessively overestimating the benefits of behaviors or events,or Potentially emphasizing the benefits of not risk-taking,in order to promote a reasonable understanding of the dangers of risk-taking behaviors and reduce negative risk-taking behaviors in adolescents.